Winger

Long ago when I was in Jr. High School, during the height of grunge-rock, the uncoolest band, by far, was Winger. While just about any pre-Nirvana/Pearl Jam hard-rock band was considered uncool, Winger was singled out in particular as the epitome of uncool.Did Winger really deserve the brickbats thrown at them? Probably not. They really weren't any worse/dated/cheesy than a million of their peers. Beavis and Butthead was probably the most instrumental in Winger's uncoolness, as the character Stuart (a fat, dorky hanger-on of B&B) sported a Winger T-shirt. Add to this the fact that Metallica's James Hetfield was seen on film throwing darts at a picture of Winger frontman Kip Winger.With such infamy behind the band, I had to see what all the negative hype was about for myself.While Winger's self-titled debut (1988) isn't really all THAT bad, it's still pretty bad. Basically, it's a by-the-numbers 80s melodic-rock album. Save for some impressive guitar work by Reb Beach, and an otherwise technically proficient band, there isn't anything all that special about this album. It doesn't totally suck, as it's listenable, but it isn't particularly memorable either. It's a totally generic, cliched 80s pop-metal album. There are the obvious singles, ("Seventeen") the power-ballads, ("Without the Night") the would-be anthems ("Madalaine") and a bunch of filler.While Poison and Warrant's image/lyrics/music was embarrassingly cheesy, at least they had some good singles to back it up. Warrant in particular had a gifted songwriter in Jani Lane. Winger on the other hand doesn't have much going for them. While Warrant's biggest single "Cherry Pie" is embarrassingly cheesy, it's still a lot of fun. Winger's "Seventeen" on the other hand is just plain embarrassing. I actually cringe when I hear it. Is there anything cool about a thirty-something year-old guy lusting after a seventeen year-old? Winger's rendition of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" probably ties with Billy Idol's rendition of the Velvet Underground's "Heroin" as the worst cover song of all-time.While Winger wasn't really any worse than some of their peers, unfortunately for them, being the textbook example of how 80s rock went wrong and how the genre became so saturated with corporate schlock will be the band's legacy.I would recommend Winger's debut for two groups of people. If you love 80s melodic-rock, there is probably something in Winger's debut for you. Although you are much, much better off checking out albums by Motley Crue, Warrant, Poison, Skid Row, Dokken, and so on. Or, if you are interested in checking out a good "comedy" album, you will no doubt have a lot of fun with this CD.The good news for Winger is that, as bad as they were, they weren't the absolute, bottom-of-the-barrel WORST pop-metal band of the genre. That honor goes to Slaughter.

If you are winger fan you need to get this cd. I got on cassette when it came out. Now I have it on cd.

though the 2nd album KILLS IT BIG TIME, this album is good. I happen to love the singles, so that's 3 songs down, there are some cool surprises on here, not including "purple haze", lol, ouch. Anyway, this album is good, though the production, and songs are better on heart of the young, though this is a must own for winger fans, this one and the album that follows is a great collection of songs to have handy.

One of my faves from the 80s. ...Used to have it on cassette back then, left it on my dash and sun ruined it. LOL

Most people make fun of Winger, but this was one of the best groups of the late 80's, and their debut album is proof. Is hard and heavy from beginnig to end, Kip Winger's voice sounds good in his own style and Reb Beach's guitar is awesome. Don't be mistaken, this is an excellent hard rock album you should have in your collection.

Great cd

I had to have this cd, because the tape died. Winger at their best and happy to add it back to the collection.

Very under rated band. Everyone in band are great musicians. There are no fillers on this album, it is one of my go to cd's when I need some great music. This is their first album and it rocks.

I remember seeing them supporting Scorpions on their Crazy World Tour, during which they also gave a gig in Budapest in 1990.Naturally, I was a lot more interested in the headliners, who gave an unforgettable show, but I enjoyed even the supporting act Winger's gig a lot.To tell you the truth, those days I was the marketing man's dream. Immediately, one day after the show I bought Winger's first album on cassette and I listened to it a lot.I was only familiar with Kip Winger's name because he had been Alice Cooper's bass guitarist before.However, I liked the album so much that now about thirty years later I bought the CD on Amazon.Quite frankly, though I still like all the songs on this album and they bring back a lot of great memories, I think it was just another great melodic hard rock album, which was not any better than any Dokken, Y&T, Bon Jovi or Europe albums.Anyway, my favourite songs from the album are Poison Angel, Hangin' On and Time To Surrender. I also adore their cover of Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze, which shows how much they were into Jimi's heritage.If you like melodic rock of the 1980s and you are a fan of Reb Beach's blistering fretwork from Whitesnake songs, you'll also love this album. Enjoy!

改めて聞くとキャッチーな曲を高い演奏能力でプレーしているのが分かる、あるようでない、洒落たメタル‼︎現在も活躍しているレブのギターも当時から非凡な才能を感じる。私はHEAD...の曲とソロを聴くと解放されます(*☻-☻*)

Kip Winger & the boys really shot themselves in the foot by initially refusing to fly to the UK in the 80s during the terrorist threats!With NO live shows here to support this cd, it sank like a stone!such a shame as it has loads going for it..great vocals,songs that "linger" etc.served them right that they never competed here as they would have gone " down a storm ,live".thewizardfromaus

Great Hair Metal album, although not a huge amount of musical variety.

Great album -